LM Otero, Associated PressSoldiers pray during a vigil at Fort Hood, Texas, Friday. Authorities said Maj. Nidal Malik Hasan shot and killed 13 people at Fort Hood on Thursday. By Clifford Krauss and James Dao

KILLEEN, Texas -- On Wednesday and Thursday, Maj. Nidal Malik Hasan seemed in a hurry to give his worldly belongings to a neighbor. First a Koran. Then bags of vegetables. Finally a mattress, clothing and odds and ends from his bare one-room apartment.

"I'm not going to need them," he told the neighbor, Patricia Villa. He was going, he said, to Iraq or maybe to Afghanistan.

That was just one of many small and enigmatic details to emerge Friday about Hasan, the 39-year-old Army psychiatrist accused of a 10-minute shooting spree at Fort Hood that killed 13 people and wounded at least 28 others.

An American-born Muslim of Palestinian descent, he was dismayed with the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan but proud of his Army job. He wore Middle Eastern clothes to the convenience store and his battle fatigues to the mosque. He was trained to counsel troubled soldiers, but bottled up his own distress about deploying.

The local police said that ballistics tests showed there had been only one shooter and that none of the casualties had been hit by bullets fired by the police.

But the military and federal investigators pointedly refused to release further details on how the shootings happened, why there were initial reports of multiple attackers and why officials took several hours to correct news media reports that Hasan had been killed. Hasan is unconscious and on a ventilator, base commander Lt. Gen. Robert Cone said at a news conference Friday.

Most significant, officials were not prepared to say whether the attack was the act of a lone and troubled man or connected to terrorist groups, foreign or domestic.

Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison, Republican of Texas, said in remarks at the base that while Hasan was the only one who had fired at the other soldiers, it was unclear whether he had planned the attack alone.

Whether investigators conclude that Hasan acted alone -- so that it was a purely military-on-military crime -- or whether they uncover evidence of any civilian co-conspirators off the base will help determine whether he faces a trial under military court or in federal court.

In Washington, a law enforcement official said an early search of Hasan's computer did not indicate any direct exchanges with known terrorists. The official said investigators do not have a complete record of his Internet use, as Hasan had multiple e-mail accounts and used computers in several locations.

In an interview with NBC, Lt. Gen. Robert W. Cone of Fort Hood was asked about the reports that Hasan had yelled "Allahu Akbar" -- an Arabic phrase for "God is great." Cone said soldiers at the scene had reported "similar" accounts.

But Muslims who attended mosques with Hasan in Virginia, Maryland and Texas said they never heard him express extremist views about politics or religion. And though openly opposed to the wars, he did not express anti-American sentiments, they said.

On the grounds of Fort Hood, near Killeen, Texas, Secretary of the Army John McHugh and Army Chief of Staff George Casey spoke to reporters, but refused to talk about Hasan, or speculate about the alleged shooter's motives.

They said that the Army is focused on helping victims and their families, and Casey added that he has asked leaders of Army installations to review their "force protection measures."

"I will tell you candidly," said Casey, "this was a kick in the gut, not only for the Fort Hood community but also for our entire Army."

Casey said they had visited victims and witnesses, including a private who dragged four victims into his truck and drove them to a hospital, saving their lives.

President Barack Obama saluted the courage of the victims Friday in a proclamation ordering flags at all federal facilities in the United States and abroad to be flown at half-staff until sunset Tuesday.

"The brave victims, who risked their lives to protect their fellow countrymen, serve as a constant source of strength and inspiration to all Americans," Obama said in the proclamation. "We ask God to watch over the fallen, the wounded and all those who are suffering at this difficult hour."

In a news conference in the Rose Garden Friday, Obama cautioned against potential backlash in the wake of the shootings.

"We don't know all the answers yet, and I would caution against jumping to conclusions until we know all the facts," he said.

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